Snow hero chef sacked for eating garlic bread wins £25,000

A hospital head chef who braved heavy snow to walk to work only to be sacked for eating a piece of garlic bread has been awarded £25,000 in compensation.

Hamid Elkhiyari was dismissed from his job at Kingston Hospital after his employers, ISS Mediclean, ruled that eating the bread - which was due to be thrown away - amounted to theft.

The chef said he had been unable to take a proper lunch break during February's record snowfall as many staff had not made it into work.

However, general manager Alain Ilunga accused him of stealing food and ordered him to leave. Mr Elkhiyari launched legal action against contractor ISS Mediclean, which is part of the ISS Group that has more than 43,000 staff at NHS and private hospitals.

The 53-year-old was awarded £25,000 compensation after a judge at an employment tribunal in south London upheld his allegations of racial discrimination. The tribunal decided that ISS's investigation was inadequate, and that other staff caught for similar offences had only been suspended or warned while his actions were deemed gross misconduct.

Mr Elkhiyari, who has lived in Britain for 34 years, said he wanted ISS Mediclean's contract with Kingston Hospital to be terminated because of the "shameful" way it treated its staff.

After 23 years working for the firm, he has been unable to find another job and is worried about providing for his wife Sabah, 32, son Badardeen, five, and nine-month-old daughter Nada.

He said: "It is ridiculous. Service had finished so everything was being cleaned away to throw into the bin. So I had a piece of garlic bread. Ilunga saw me eating it. I'd been working all day on my own in the kitchen as there was not enough staff. He told me to leave and six days later I was sacked.

"I want to see them kicked out of the hospital and I want more compensation. It is not enough to support me or my family. It is affecting me a lot - my wife has been through hell."

A spokesman for ISS Mediclean said: "At this stage the company cannot make any comment in relation to the tribunal as they are considering their position."

Mr Ilunga had been due to give evidence at the tribunal but did not turn up. He was arrested on 19 November with two other managers on suspicion of blackmailing junior members of staff from abroad. A spokesman for the Met police said two men aged 47 and 43 and a 28-year-old woman were being questioned. They have been bailed until mid-February.